The Good Teacher

By Jeremy Kester

Peter could get caught, but it may be what he wanted all along. Peter's spent his life as a purposeful underachiever. Despite the chance of a promising career in business, Peter chose instead a career as a high school teacher solely to spite his parents. And while his beautiful, successful girlfriend would like to build a life with him, he challenges it at every turn. And then there is his affair with his best friend's girlfriend Melissa. While the new school year begins, a young, pretty student courts his affections threatening to further unravel the delicate charade. It may cost his job, his girlfriend, his friend… And his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeremy Kester
• Release date: Apr 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215337387

Book preview

Chapter 1

It took a few moments for everything to come into focus. My lungs burned with cold air as I breathed in. It was after dusk, and the fog from my own sight was only making it more difficult to see. Instinctively I felt around for my glasses. To my fortune they were only inches from my face.

They were cold and wet as I placed them upon my face. I had to wipe the condensation off of the lenses though it all only improved my ability to see slightly.

The ground was damp and cold. I could feel that it had seeped through my clothing and was chilling more. I was sore and weak.

I struggled to remember the last few moments of my last being conscious. The most that I could remember was my apartment. But that could have been from anytime. Maybe it was an hour ago; maybe it was days ago.

Only a few moments passed before my memory started to reassemble itself, however laggardly.

As I got some focus I could see that there was nothing around, only trees and whatever else may decorate these woods. The smudges and condensation on my glasses hindered my vision though. And God only knows now how the hell I got to here from where I was before. My mind was only slowly bringing me the last moments. But it was all coming back nonetheless.

I got up slowly not knowing what to expect. I quickly dismissed any nervous thoughts. I needed to focus; that was all.

I could not see well. It was still quite dim on top of foggy glasses, though without them it was worse. I circled around a few times before finally landing my eyes on her. She was still and lying in the grass only a few feet ahead of me. I was not sure for a moment if what I was seeing was indeed real or if I was just imagining things with the lack of light.

I moved slowly towards her expecting her to jolt awake at any moment. It bothered me to even see her there with me. It meant that fears of what my mind was assembling were true. I wanted to just be dreaming this all up. As I reached for her I realized that there was no life in her. Although it was dark, I could not see nor could I hear any movement from her. No breath, no twitching.

Her clothing looked as though it was stained dark in spots from what I could only guess was her own blood. It was all that I could do to touch her and be sure that my feelings were true. She was cool to the touch. I knew then that it was true.

She’s dead, Peter, a familiar voice sounded behind me. I jolted up and looked around trying to catch where the voice was coming from. I knew it was him. Surprised? Did you expect that things changed in the last few hours? You saw me kill her.

He had been behind me to my left. I only was able to see his silhouette against the dark backdrop of the trees. I tried to see if he was holding anything. Nothing was in sight though. That gave me no greater ease however.

What are you doing, Eric? I asked as strongly as my hoarse voice could stand. I sounded sick. My voice felt only worse with all of the cold air passing through it.

There was only silence. I began to wonder if maybe this was again something from my mind. If only I were so lucky.

Eric? I said again. He had to be there. I know that you’re there. What the hell are you doing?

There was still silence. I stopped moving towards her instead starting crawling to where I thought Eric was. I heard a click as though a pistol was being cocked. The shadow of Eric grew as though he had been seated when I first saw him. Don’t move any closer, Peter. You don’t want to end up like her, do you?

I looked up at him. I could see a little color from his skin, not too much though. It made him a bit more real than before. Trying to stand and face him I was met by the butt of the pistol against my face.

The stinging was only worsened by the cold, coarse ground that my face was now pressing against. My hands tried to press myself off of the ground. I thought that I could feel blood running from somewhere on my face. It hurt all over already and made it difficult to really tell.

His foot stepped right in front of my face. I heard the grinding of the dirt beneath the rubber of the sole of his shoe.

Why are you doing this? I coughed as I began to climb back to my knees.

Eric kicked me severely hard in my stomach. The blow sent me onto my back onto her cold body. She didn’t move; she didn’t grunt. At that instant I knew that she was indeed dead. Before I wanted to believe that there was still hope.

That acknowledgment still didn’t blind me from the pain Eric’s foot introduced to my stomach. I yelped like a scared dog on impact.

You should know why this is happening, he said calmly. You only brought this onto yourself, Peter.

What do you mean? still grunting from the pain of Eric’s inflicted wounds. Despite my inquiry, I knew what he meant. How could I not?

There was just silence again. Quite possibly Eric was trying to think of what to say to me. It was probably more likely that he was more surprised that I would ask such a question. In his mind I couldn’t defend myself from this. I am sure of that. He was so damn headstrong.

And this was my fault.

I was met with another kick in the stomach. His boot felt as though it had reached my spine this time.

Almost instinctively I grabbed his leg when he kicked me. Shaking me off as easily as he stood there, he kicked me again. This time I was able to hold onto his leg enough to pull him off balance.

My concern for the moment was that he would still have the gun when he fell. To my fortune it had bounced from his hand as his elbow hit the ground.

I reached for it right as he kicked my stomach again. He had recovered more swiftly than I was able. I had only gotten my fingers to graze the barrel. I yelped. The pain of his boot at the edge of my ribs was too much to bear, but my adrenaline kept me from completely succumbing to the pain.

Eric had the gun within seconds of my being kicked. I was up charging at him at that moment as well. Impacting against him, I screamed.

Two shots pierced my ears as both of us tumbled to the ground.

Chapter 2

She was beautiful. Melissa was still sleeping when I woke for work. Her features only barely peeked out between the strands of her hair that lay over her face. I watched her breathe for a minute before I questioned myself as to how I had allowed her to stay the night. The stark reality of what it meant was suddenly too much to ignore. It was something I had never allowed to happen before. There was too much risk involved. There is too much risk involved.

Without disturbing her, I slid out of the bed. She remained still and quiet. Only the slight movements of the sheets appeared from her breathing. I stood there for some time before deciding that it was best that I got myself cleaned up. I would be able to think a little more clearly in the water.

Running through my head were images of all the dangers that lurked around the corner. Having Melissa here was a mistake and I knew it. Many of the dangers involved what Eric might do to me if he ever found out. Were Eric to find out, I would be dead.

What I should have been more concerned with was my own fidelity, but that appeared to be of lesser importance to me as it barely trickled into my thoughts.

Were Shannon to find out, my life would be over. I would be amazed with myself if I gave that a little more priority in my thinking though.

I started the water to my shower. As usual, it took entirely too long for the water to reach even a tepid feel to it. Things about this apartment sucked. I wasted more water waiting for warmth than I used the rest of the day.

Slowly, I stripped down out of my shorts. The dangers were slipping away and being replaced by the memories of the night before. I shook it off. Thinking that was only would bring more breeches in my better judgment. Melissa shouldn’t have been here.

Standing in the shower, the sound of the sound of the water slapping against the porcelain must have been enough to drown out the phone’s ringing. It startled me when the bathroom door suddenly opened and Melissa came walking in.

He’s so goddamn needy anymore, Melissa’s voice sounded over the barrage of water from the shower. I assumed that it meant that Eric had been the one that called. The silhouette of her body teased my eyes through the curtain. He used to just let me go do shit and never bother me, now he keeps calling me all the fucking time asking me where I’m at. Now he is calling you to get you to spy on me for him.

It wasn’t the first time that he had called me asking me where she was. I wasn’t going to tell her that. Rituals of that nature were about as regular as his and my meet ups for drinks. Usually I just ignored him and called him paranoid. Mocking him stopped the calls if only for a day. All of it came from the singular time Melissa was caught cheating on Eric. He walked in on her with another man from the bar we frequent.

I remember something about a couple of fractured ribs, heavy bruising and the loss of sight in one eye... In my own opinion, Melissa was getting off lucky by only getting his pestering calls.

I honestly couldn’t blame him, though. The thoughts of Shannon being unfaithful used to blind me with rage. Of course over time the feelings waned. It probably lessened as I found her to be quite more honorable than I. Trust... such a stupid thing.

Hypocrisy is exactly the word that describes this situation. I am a hypocrite. I am oddly comfortable with that distinction though.

Well, I yelled sarcastically, not like it’s not warranted.

Shut up, Peter. You’re as guilty as I am. You’re only lucky that Shannon trusts you so goddamn much.

She was right. I didn’t respond to her remark other than to roll my eyes. It was an exercise in self-satisfaction as she couldn’t see it.

There was silence for a few moments. I continued bathing occasionally checking to see if she was still in the room. She was sitting on the toilet with the seat down.

I don’t know what I am going to do with him, she finally said.

Nonchalantly I replied: Dump him. The suggestion was an easy one; although, it wouldn’t truly solve any problems. She and I would still have to remain secretive if we were to continue this charade. Or our other choice would be to end it. All that it may accomplish is eventually ridding her of Eric’s pestering. But she was the one that earned that behavior in the first place.

Melissa groaned. I know. I should do that, she commented reluctantly. She continued: You should get rid of Shannon too. Maybe we’ll strike out together instead. Her tone alluded to seriousness in her suggestion.

I wasn’t going to acknowledge the emotion I thought I heard. Oh yeah, I snickered, as tempting as that offer is... and I let it trail off, not really interested in getting into the discussion. Don’t get me wrong: Melissa is a fun lay, but it just isn’t the relationship I would envision myself getting into beyond that.

And I do value my life.

Fuck you, Peter, she snapped as she got up and left the bathroom.

I finished soon after and continued my routine.

She still hadn’t gotten dressed when I reentered the bedroom. She laid on the bed watching me assemble myself for work. I immediately dropped my towel and threw it off to the side. I would mean to hang it back up later. From behind me Melissa hummed playfully. Wanna give it another round?

Almost ignoring her, I simply said: I don’t have the time.

In a deft motion of seduction, she slid herself off the bed and onto her knees in front of me. She looked up at me with a sly smile. Are ya sure?

Yes, I sighed. I don’t have enough time to fool around.

She slipped her mouth around me and started to suck. My mind slipped as I felt myself get hard. It lasted a moment before I snapped myself back. You need to stop! I don’t have time!

She smiled as she climbed back to the bed and then continued to move seductively around on the bed. Probably it was due to boredom. I can’t imagine that I was terribly engaging refusing her advance. I resumed picking out slacks and a shirt. Hearing the rustling behind me though, knowing that Melissa was the cause, was a slight distraction.

How do you put up with her? I can only assume that she was talking about Shannon. The tone carried with it a playful curiosity.

What do you mean?

I mean that she’s just so plain. I am sure she’s dull here. She patted the sheets of the bed. She doesn’t seem like she’s, there was a brief pause. I was tempted to cut in until she blurted out: good for you. It didn’t sound as firm a statement as the rest. It was as though she reached a little far for it. Maybe it was apprehension.

She’s not bad, was all that I could say not mustering much of a defense.

Stop avoiding the fucking question, ass.

I stopped and turned around. I wasn’t very pleased that she was bringing this up now. If it wasn’t bad enough that I was having this discussion now, it was certainly bad that I was having it with the girl I was fucking around with. Is this your way of avoiding us talking about Eric and your needing to leave him?

Melissa chose to respond by rolling back over. I turned around and resumed